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Being and Becoming. Polish Conversions to Judaism and the Dynamics of Affiliation.
Author(s): Lorenz, Jan
Date: 2021
Topics: Conversion, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity, Jewish Community
Convergent Aims: The revival of Jewish Studies in St. Petersburg and the search for Russia’s “unaffiliated Jews”
Author(s): Reed, Andrew C.
Date: 2013
Topics: Assimilation, Jewish Revival, Jewish Organisations, Fundraising and Philanthropy, Affiliation and Belonging, Jewish Studies, Universities / Higher Education, Jewish Education, Main Topic: Education, Outreach
Abstract: Twentieth-century events in Russia and Eastern Europe resulted in complex definitions of Jewish identity and communal relations. When the Soviet Union disbanded, foreign agencies pushed funds and resources to rebuild Jewish communities and institutions. One of the avenues for this funding is the creation and support of academic research centers responsible for training students and scholars. Organizations interested in Russia’s “unaffiliated Jews” and the research centers responsible for the revival of Jewish Studies form unique partnerships that bridge academic and public arenas. Reclaiming Jews who do not identify with Judaism or Jewish culture (unaffiliated Jews) in Russia is a significant goal of some Jewish funding agencies in the United States and Israel. An examination of mission statements by these philanthropic agencies reveals narrow definitions of “Jews” that ignore major contributions from Jewish Studies scholars focused on understanding a diverse population with disparate self-understandings.
Survey Results: General Assembly Budapest 2004
Date: 2004
Topics: Jewish Organisations, Jewish Community, Jewish Identity, Surveys, Jewish Leadership, Antisemitism, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: This survey was given to participants in the 3rd General Assembly of European Jewry, which was held in Budapest in May 2004. Participants were asked how many Jews participate in community programs in their respective cities; the programs and activities their Jewish community offers; and how they believe their community could be more effective in attracting more members.
Shades Of Closeness. Belonging And Becoming In A Contemporary Polish Jewish Community
Author(s): Lorenz, Jan
Editor(s): Diemling, Maria; Ray, Larry
Date: 2016
Topics: Jewish Identity, Boundaries, Jewish Community, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Identity à la Carte: Research on Jewish identities, participation and affiliation in five Eastern European countries
Author(s): Kovács, András; Ildiko, Barna; DellaPergola, Sergio; Kosmin, Barry
Date: 2011
Topics: Affiliation and Belonging, Antisemitism, Intermarriage, Israel Attachment, Surveys, Jewish Identity, Religious Observance and Practice, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract:

This report describes the process and results of a research study on Jewish identity and community participation in Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, it identifies trends among Jewish adults in Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania. This two-year and wide-reaching study, examined views on religious observance, Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, Israel, Jewish knowledge, and organizational affiliation among 1,270 Jews, ages 18-60.
Being Jewish in Scotland: Project Findings, August 2013
Author(s): Frank, Fiona; Borowski, Ephraim; Granat, Leah
Date: 2013
Topics: Strategic Planning, Policy, Affiliation and Belonging, Small Jewish Communities, Surveys, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: Being Jewish in Scotland was a small-scale inquiry carried out by the Scottish Council
of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC), with funding from the Scottish Government, to
find out more about the variety of experience of Jewish people in Scotland, and
encourage them to identify the issues that are important to them. It has helped
SCoJeC to build a better understanding of what affects the sense of security of
Jewish individuals and communities, and thus to establish what matters to the
community, and improve our support for Jewish people in Scotland. The process
of carrying out the inquiry has itself had the result of strengthening networks
and social capital in the community, and has helped to provide support to Jewish
people throughout Scotland.
It is intended that the findings should also prove useful in assisting statutory
and voluntary organisations and agencies such as the Scottish Government,
the NHS, local authorities, education authorities, employers, faith groups, and
others to support and respond more effectively to the needs and concerns of the
community.
More than 300 Jewish people, from Shetland to the Borders, participated in Being
Jewish in Scotland, either by attending one of the 30 focus groups and events
held as part of the project, or by completing a survey or participating in a oneto-one
interview
Post-Soviet Jewry on the Cusp of Its Third Decade - Part 1
Author(s): Gidwitz, Betsy
Date: 2011
Topics: Affiliation and Belonging, Antisemitism, Demography, Intermarriage, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract:

Demographically, post-Soviet Jewry has seen an overall decline resulting from assimilation, intermarriage, low fertility, high mortality, and emigration of younger age cohorts. Some  demographers believe that less than 500,000 Jews remain in the post-Soviet states. An intermarriage rate that some view as exceeding 80 percent creates complex situations for those Jewish groups that prefer to confine their programs to halachically Jewish individuals.

Jewish identity among Jews in Russia and Ukraine is most likely to be expressed as a sense of Jewish heritage, in particular, a common cultural or intellectual heritage, rather than a sense of common spirituality or sharply focused religious practice. Post-Soviet Jews also tend to believe that Jews should be familiar with modern Israel, but not necessarily feel obligated to live in Israel.
Juifs des villes, juifs des champs
Translated Title: Jews of the citiy, Jews of the countryside
Author(s): Azria, Régine
Date: 1998
Topics: Cities and Suburbs, Rural and Small Town, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Other
The Challenges Facing British Jewry 
Author(s): Wagner, Leslie
Date: 2011
Topics: Antisemitism, Jewish Community, Affiliation and Belonging, Orthodox Judaism, Jewish Identity, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: The challenges facing British Jewry now are little different from those that have faced Diaspora Jewry generally over the past one hundred years or more, namely, the twin problems of assimilation and anti-Semitism. The author argues that there need be no fears about the Jewish identity of the strictly Orthodox community in the UK. The key to whether British Jewry can arrest its decline will be the performance of the other sections, and particularly the centrist Orthodox communities. Their challenge is to show that a Jewish lifestyle that is not strictly Orthodox can ensure Jewish continuity. 
Lost Jews: The Struggle for Identity Today
Author(s): Klein, Emma
Date: 1995
Topics: Intermarriage, Jewish Status, Marriage, Assimilation, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Identity
Abstract: Against a background of continuing erosion of Jewish numbers, the book investigates the many facets of Jewish identity by throwing the spotlight on people of part-Jewish descent, on born Jews on the fringes of Jewish life and those who have sought alternative affiliations. Emma Klein also calls for a response from religious and lay leaders to parochial communal attitudes and the anomaly of the definition of Jewish status in Jewish law which may be seen to contribute to the erosion.
Beyond Belonging: The Jewish Identities of Moderately Engaged British Jews -- Highlights of the UJIA Study of Jewish Identity
Author(s): Kahn-Harris, Keith; Cohen, Steven M.
Date: 2004
Topics: Affiliation and Belonging, Jewish Identity, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: Many observers and policy-makers in Jewish life conceptually divide the population into two large segments: the affiliated and the unaffiliated, or the engaged and unengaged. While seem- ingly straightforward and intuitively appealing, dividing the population into two parts implicitly connotes an exaggerated distinction between the Jewishly more active and Jewishly less active. For Jews in Britain and in almost any other policy-relevant context within the English-speaking Jewish world, the population may be fruitfully divided into three segments, according to levels of Jewish engagement. Rather than seeing the world as divided statically into two blocs, one imagines the population more dynamically moving between at least three regions on the Jewish identity spectrum.

Unlike the less engaged, the moderately engaged report a significant number of points of Jewish involvement (such as congregational membership, Jewish friendship ties and holiday celebration). That said, their Jewish involvement is not so extensive as to indicate a major commitment either to traditional religious piety or to significant leadership in the organized Jewish community. From a Jewish communal policy point of view, the moderately engaged constitute a critical, if not the most critical, Jewish popu- lation segment for Jewish educational intervention on the population-scale.

This study relies upon both qualitative (depth interviews) and quantitative (social surveys) research methodologies.
Beyond Belonging: Jewish Identities of Moderately Engaged British Jews in the UK
Author(s): Cohen, Steven M.; Kahn-Harris, Keith
Editor(s): Cohen, Stuart; Susser, Bernard
Date: 2007
Topics: Affiliation and Belonging, Jewish Identity, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: A shortened version of the report of the same name.
Beyond the Synagogue: Report of the Working Group of the “Missing” Generation.
Author(s): Bronzite, Sarah; Clifton, Ruth; Goodman, Deborah; Lachman, Yonni; Loewe, Harriet; Pinto, Linzi; Sieff, Adrian
Date: 1995
Topics: Young Adults / Emerging Adulthood, Synagogue Membership, Affiliation and Belonging, Youth, Reform/Liberal/Progressive Judaism, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: Report of a working group set up by the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, on the needs of young adults in Reform synagogues. They are termed the 'missing generation' due to their absence from synagogue life.
Synagogue Membership in the United Kingdom in 2010
Author(s): Graham, David; Vulkan, Daniel
Date: 2010
Topics: Synagogues, Synagogue Membership, Affiliation and Belonging, Denominations, Denominations: Statistics, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: This report marks the first occasion that the synagogue membership survey, carried out by the Board
of Deputies approximately every five years, is published jointly with the Institute for Jewish Policy
Research (JPR).
Synagogue membership data are of particular interest to community leaders and planners because
they provide the only consistent indicator of patterns of Jewish affiliation over time. No other survey
regularly reports on the denominational structure of the Jewish community in the UK. The data are
also unique in providing a consistent indicator of Jewish belonging – a measure of proactive
attachment and commitment to Jewish communal life.
Despite the continuing decline in synagogue affiliation over the last generation, the synagogue, as an
institution, nevertheless continues to be the principal arena of formal affiliation to the Jewish
community.
The data presented here reveal a dynamic picture of communal change in the UK, charting changes in
the religious make-up of the community. We have sought to provide as functionally relevant a measure
of synagogue membership as possible within the limits of the data that we were able to obtain.
Trends in British Synagogue Membership 1990-2005/06 
Author(s): Hart, Rona; Kafka, Edward
Date: 2006
Topics: Synagogues, Synagogue Membership, Denominations, Denominations: Statistics, Affiliation and Belonging, Main Topic: Identity and Community
Abstract: The key indicators of Jewish congregational engagement such as synagogue membership, participation in services, and volunteering, are declining in many sectors of the Jewish community. This study examines synagogue membership to delineate a developmental account of this trend across the UK and to report on differences between regions and groups. To what extent does community demography explain synagogue membership patterns?